Motion of Thanks - Population  Policy, Youth, Education, Manpower, Arts and Culture and Sports. (2014/2/12)

Deputy President, while there are policies on the conservation of monuments in Hong Kong, the people generally know very little about them due to inadequate publicity, and most Hong Kong people have not visited such monuments which are scattered in different parts of the city.

There are altogether 105 declared monuments and over 1 000 historic buildings that have been assessed with gradings in Hong Kong. Many people say that Hong Kong is a "cultural desert". Is this city really a "desert", or instead, a "treasure" that is yet to be discovered by us? Last year, when the Audit Commission put forward suggestions on heritage conservation policies in Hong Kong, it was found that out of the 57 declared monuments open to the public, only 21 had guided tours arranged, whereas out of the 203 historic buildings, only 51 had such tours arranged. 

We can see from such figures that Hong Kong has very rich cultural heritage. However, as the efforts made on exploring and publicizing it are not adequate, even Hong Kong people cannot have a proper understanding of such treasure. When we go trail walking in our leisure time, we ourselves may have overlooked such sites of cultural heritage while walking past them, not to mention the tourists. That explains why they can only engage themselves in shopping and visiting traditional tourist attractions when they come to Hong Kong. 

Let me skip talking about the experience of overseas countries at the moment. Let me first talk about what happens in the Mainland. In Mainland China, the mindset of integrating conservation with tourism has come a long way and is well ahead of us. I have a relative who owns an ancient house in Kaiping, Guangdong. The local government adopted the approach of "delegated management" in developing the entire village into a village resort for tourists. The owners are not required to pay for maintenance expenses, and furthermore, they can even pocket some rental income each year. In addition to receiving proper preservation care, historic buildings of the entire village can also generate certain financial value locally. 

Historic buildings in Hong Kong are relatively more scattered. A direct duplication of the village conservation model may not be suitable for Hong Kong. However, we may still identify some suitable projects in which the geographical environment may blend together with traditional cultural resources in the neighbourhood. With the co-operation of the local folks, we may step up the promotional campaigns of such projects so as to revitalize the economies of the districts in the vicinity. 

Indeed, certain activities have been organized in the community to promote local heritage with fairly decent originality and idea. For example, a non-profit organization has recently orchestrated a joint exhibition of the Wishing Tree in Lam Tsuen and Luen Wo Hui in Fanling. Having thoroughly studied the local cultural heritage there, they have themed the activity as an exhibition and re-opened temporary bazaars selling local produce. Also, they have enhanced the public's understanding to the region through heritage tours and interactive workshops, enabling the people to appreciate the wisdom of creativity in traditional craftsmanship. This demonstrates that combined projects between local tourism and conservation can only be developed after sufficient communication with the local community for them to understand the uniqueness of the local area as well as the culture embedded, so that the heritage features can be preserved without damaging the local scene.

Deputy President, Hong Kong is in fact rich in tourism resources. What we lack are merely the ideas of integration, packaging and promotion. Many of these tourism resources can drive the local economy without requiring massive construction works. As the traditional attractions and popular tourism areas in Hong Kong are close to saturation, I hope that the authorities can expeditiously strengthen co-operation with local communities to open up heritage trips featuring the uniqueness of destination Hong Kong, so that the people in Hong Kong can understand the past through cultural heritage, and that tourists can be offered with choices beyond shopping.

I hope that the authorities will not be promoting our attractions perfunctorily, or simply leave them open for visiting without doing anything.

Deputy President, I so submit.